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10-12-2008, 10:41 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,201
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Who Just Can't Look?
It's juvenile I know, but I know a lot of people who claim they are not opening up their online 401k, brokerage or other accounts. They know their net worth has taken a huge hit, but they just don't want to see it and know exactly what the carnage is in $. Before you think I'm all high and mighty (on this at least), I haven't looked since 9/30 - I always review my holdings at the end of each quarter (at a minimum).
My HR Manager had to go on our 401k providers site to answer a question for an employee, and her account balance popped up. She did not want to know, and her heart sunk when she saw her balance, it was sad - but hopefully we will all be rewarded in time...
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No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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10-12-2008, 10:48 AM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,450
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I never look at it during a market correction....but then again, I am still working and have more savings years ahead of me...
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- Hurry! to the cliffs of insanity!
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10-12-2008, 10:54 AM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
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i looked just for an instant like i do at car crashes. i keep moving with one eye scanning traffic. i don't rubber neck. i take a quick snap shot, not a video. i make myself aware but i take care that it does not indelibly imprint upon my mind.
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"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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10-12-2008, 10:56 AM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
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Well, let us assume you are down minimum about 25%. I not only look, I'm reading and studying this like crazy. It gives me a feeling of control as this entire situation is so out of control for me. But I do understand why saner people than I am don't want to look at all....you're probably better off (and lacking in the heart palpitations I am having the last couple days).
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Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
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10-12-2008, 10:57 AM
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#5
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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I *like* looking at my portfolio. I want to know, and absorb the shock, and contemplate the wisest course of action (which is often just doing nothing). When I forget to look, I kick and berate myself for not looking and rush to vanguard.com .
It's sort of like getting free admission to a disaster/horror film like "The Towering Inferno", "Titanic", or "Jaws".
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Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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10-12-2008, 11:01 AM
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#6
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 717
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Not looking when your account is down is kind of like ignoring health symptoms.
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Random Reinforcement is Highly Addictive.
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10-12-2008, 11:37 AM
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#7
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: LaLa Land
Posts: 4,698
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I haven't looked since Monday. Just can't bring myself to see what I already know.
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10-12-2008, 11:51 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 4,898
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Want2retire
I *like* looking at my portfolio. I want to know, and absorb the shock, and contemplate the wisest course of action (which is often just doing nothing). When I forget to look, I kick and berate myself for not looking and rush to vanguard.com .
It's sort of like getting free admission to a disaster/horror film like "The Towering Inferno", "Titanic", or "Jaws".
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I feel the same way, as I posted in another thread, and feel a little guilty at my fascination with this train wreck of which I am one of the box cars.
But I've been through more than a few train wrecks in my life and I know how to manage my own crises and survive. I'm glad that I have not been living above my means and have lots of wiggle room. I, too, want to know where I stand, so that I can take appropriate action, or do nothing.
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10-12-2008, 12:04 PM
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#9
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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I look at first I rant & rave and then I figure out what the lower figure will really mean and any actions I need to take .
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10-12-2008, 12:22 PM
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#10
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
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Have not looked for several weeks. I know it will be bad. I had sold off about 10% a little a while back but don't intend to sell any more at this late stage. I should have followed my tinfoil hat instincts to the fullest; it was a battle between them and the Firecalc/Bernstein AA "I will survive" philosophy.. Well, I'm sure we'll "survive".. just not sure I'm gonna be liking it much in the meantime.
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10-12-2008, 12:32 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,280
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My sister has been buying Starbucks stock - and nothing but - for years. She looked brilliant - multiple splits and bunches of profit. Tried to suggest that she diversify several months ago, but my stock picking is comparatively recent and not wildly profitable. She didn't wanna look, but did last Friday. Not a happy girl.
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10-12-2008, 12:35 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calmloki
My sister has been buying Starbucks stock - and nothing but - for years. She looked brilliant - multiple splits and bunches of profit. Tried to suggest that she diversify several months ago, but my stock picking is comparatively recent and not wildly profitable. She didn't wanna look, but did last Friday. Not a happy girl.
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Too much stock in one company is generally not a good idea -- especially the type of company that's likely to take a huge hit when consumers pull back on their discretionary spending.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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10-12-2008, 12:39 PM
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#13
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
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Good description.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum
i looked just for an instant like i do at car crashes. i keep moving with one eye scanning traffic. i don't rubber neck. i take a quick snap shot, not a video. i make myself aware but i take care that it does not indelibly imprint upon my mind.
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That's more or less my approach.
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"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
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10-12-2008, 12:43 PM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,020
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I looked just to see if things were so out of whack that we needed to rebalance. To be honest, I'm not fazed. I realize that the last week hurt people and I can empathize with that, but still... I was more amazed by the fact that I had enough invested to be down by $60k. That's more than I made for the years of '92-'99 combined.
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10-12-2008, 12:48 PM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,317
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Out of morbid curiosity I keep a line on my spreadsheet for "low point for 2008." I originally put it in after the big dip early in the year. It used to be refreshing to look at that number after a brief dip - it was always lower than the current dip. But for quite some time now every time I run the sheet I have to put that day's figure in as the "lowest."
But so far so good. When we talked years ago about our stomach for risk DW and I agreed that we could sail smoothly through a 50% drop. If we hit 60% or 75% I don't know -- at least it will be too late to panic and pull everything out.
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Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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10-12-2008, 01:02 PM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
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Instead of "talk like a pirate day", I do the "look like a pirate day". I put a patch over one eye and squint with the other one. Arrrrrr.
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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10-12-2008, 02:09 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
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To me, it was too late to pull out by summer, but that's just me.
Calmloki, you might give your sis a head's up that Starbucks is going into the crapper, to put it delicately. $3 coffee just won't cut it in this economy I think.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
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10-12-2008, 02:11 PM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,020
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orchidflower
$3 coffee just won't cut it in this economy I think.
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Especially with McDonald's offering their alternatives now.
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10-12-2008, 02:23 PM
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#19
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 582
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marquette
I was more amazed by the fact that I had enough invested to be down by $60k.
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Me too! We're down 65K last I looked, and on the one hand, I was impressed we have that much to lose.
I wasn't going to look, since my previous policy was to look only every 6 months. But then someone here pointed out that if you never look when it's down, you don't really know how bad it gets. We're still accumulating so it's a lot less scary than it probably would be if we're retired. So now that I know, when we see big drops in the future I'll know it's not the first time and we still made it ok.
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10-12-2008, 03:02 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
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I'm looking, because I worry more about what I don't know. Also, the bottom will be my new baseline.
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